TELEDYNE’S HIGH PERFORMANCE INFRARED DETECTORS FOR SPACE 

MISSIONSPaul Jerram and James 

BeleticICSO October 2018

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Teledyne Imaging SensorsCamarillo, California(Design, Fab, I&T)

Teledyne Judson TechnologiesMontgomeryville, Pennsylvania

(Design, Fab, I&T)

Teledyne DALSAWaterloo, Ontario (Design, I&T)Bromont, Quebec (CCD fab)

Teledyne e2v Space ImagingChelmsford, England (Design, Fab, I&T)

Grenoble, France (Design, I&T)

• Teledyne utilizes leading CMOS foundries for fabrication of CMOS image sensors

• Including staff who work in machine vision (locations not shown on map), Teledyne employs 100 CMOS image designers and 7 CCD designers

Teledyne High Performance Image Sensors

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Micro‐CamTM

Infrared Microscope Camera

High Speed (1600 Hz)Long‐Wave IR camera for Lab Instrumentation

Photodiode Thermoelectricallycooled packaging

320×256 Array

1‐D Photodiode Array

Space Flight PackagingNASA JWST 4 Mpixel

Aircrew Laser Eye Protection

High Speed Camera for Tactical Application

Compact Camera Electronics

Custom Visible & IR Arrays for DoD Space Applications

• Infrared and visible sensors• Custom cameras• Focal plane electronics• Laser eye protection & sensor protection• Infrared detectors, photodiodes & arrays• Detector packaging• Custom sensors for tactical and space • Infrared cameras• Camera electronics• Integration and test of IR camera systems

16 Million Pixel  Infrared Astronomy 

Array

Teledyne Image Sensors ‐ Products

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

4Tunable Wavelength:  Unique property of HgCdTeHg1-xCdxTe Modify ratio of Mercury and Cadmium to

“tune” the bandgap energy

G. L. Hansen, J. L. Schmidt, T. N. Casselman, J. Appl. Phys. 53(10), 1982, p. 7099

5.3

HgCdTe crystal is grown by MBE on CdZnTe Substrates xTxxxEg 211035.5832.081.093.1302.0 432

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

Readout CircuitInput signal

• Flux – object and backgroundOperating Mode

• Integration time• Frame readout time• Shutter (rolling, snapshot)• Multiple storage cells per pixel• Windows • Reset (pixel, line, global)• Event driven

Interface• Input (analog, digital)• Output (analog, digital)• # of readout ports

Environment• Temperature• Radiation

Other Requirements• Linearity• Anti-blooming

The functionality (“the brains”) of a CMOS‐based 

sensor is provided by the readout circuit

Detector• Wavelength (λ)• Quantum Efficiency• Dark current & Noise• Radiation environment• Persistence

Hybrid CMOS Image Sensor

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Note that the incident photons must first pass through the CdZnTe substrate

Cosmic rays in the CdZnTe substrate give fluorescence that creates signal in the HgCdTe

The substrate will also decrease QE below 1.3µm

Substrate removed HgCdTe

p-type HgCdTe

epoxyROIC input

indium bump

silicon multiplexer

OutputSignal

p-type HgCdTe

Bulk n-type HgCdTe

CdZnTe Substrate

Incident PhotonsCosmic Ray

NB schematic is not to scale 

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Note that the incident photons must first pass through the CdZnTe substrate

Cosmic rays in the CdZnTe substrate give fluorescence that creates signal in the HgCdTe

The substrate will also decrease QE below 1.3µm

Substrate removed HgCdTe

p-type HgCdTe

epoxyROIC input

indium bump

silicon multiplexer

OutputSignal

p-type HgCdTe

Bulk n-type HgCdTe

The substrate is removed down to the HgCdTe layer

An AR Coating can now be applied to give excellent QE down to  below 400nm

IncidentPhotons

AR Coating

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

JPL AVIRIS‐NG Imaging Spectrometer

JPL AVIRIS‐NG Imaging Spectrometer

380 nm

2510 nm

Atmospheric water vapor absorption bandsat 1400 and 1900 nm

Substrate removed HgCdTe Provides Simultaneous UV‐Vis‐IRLight Detection

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• For high flux (300K scenes), will double operating temperature

• Less expensive cooling options• Longer cooler operating lifetime• Able to operate LWIR with mini cryo-coolers

• For low flux applications• Lower dark current at standard oper. Temp.• Higher operating temperature• Longer cooler operating lifetime

• Status• Demonstrated 10X to 100X reduction in dark

current• LWIR 128x128, 1280x480, and 640x512

arrays have been tested• MWIR operated up to 250K• LWIR operated up to 160K

• Strong funding for development• Developing partnerships with aerospace

primes for system insertion• Will utilize for commercial instrumentation

products

Teledyne’s high quality HgCdTe is getting even better!Applications will soon benefit from a major reduction in HgCdTe dark current

Promise of Fully Depleted HgCdTe

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

Optimized for imaging spectrometers (hyperspectral imaging)Programmable, digital input: clocks and biases generated on‐chipAnalog output, one output every 160 columns (10 MHz pixel rate)Snapshot, integrate‐while‐read, nearly 100% duty cycleCTIA unit cell

+ 30 x 30 micron pixel pitch+ High linearity (>99% linear over full range)+ Full well sizes (700 ke‐, 1 Me‐, or 5 Me‐)

Formats (columns by rows; spatial by spectral pixels)+ 640 × 480 Delivered in 2012+ 1280 × 480 Delivered in 2014+ 1600 × 480 ROICs fabricated

Focal plane electronics (16 bit, 10 MHz ADCs, CameraLink interface)Windowing available in row directionFrame readout time scales with number of rows read out

+ Row readout time is 16.8 microsec+ Full‐frame rate (480 rows) is 125 Hz+ Half‐frame rate (240 rows) is 250 Hz

Low power:  90, 150, 180 mW for CHROMA 640, 1280 and 1600 formatsPerformance (advertised specs):

Focal PlaneElectronics (FPE)

CHROMA 1280×480Sensor Chip

Assembly (SCA)

Available support equipment:– Focal Plane Electronics (FPE): 

engineering/lab grade only– Flex Cables: warm and cold cables, 

engineering/lab grade only

CDS Noise Well = 0.7M e‐

CDS Noise Well = 1M e‐

CDS Noise Well = 5M e‐

CHROMA‐320 120 e‐ 145 e‐ 600 e‐ 70 14.4 x 19.4 2

CHROMA‐640 120 e‐ 145 e‐ 600 e‐ 90 24.4 x 19.5 4

CHROMA‐1280 120 e‐ 145 e‐ 600 e‐ 150 43.2 x 19.6 8

CHROMA‐1600 120 e‐ 145 e‐ 600 e‐ 180 52.8 x 19.7 10

Array FormatWell capacity & Readout Noise Power 

dissipation at 125 Hz [mW]

ROIC dimensions 

[mm]

No. Outputs

Actual noise performance is 15%-20% lower (better) than listed above10

CHROMA used by:• Several JPL spectrometers

• CLARREO Pathfinder on ISS

CHROMATM (Configurable Hyperspectral Readout for Multiple Applications) 

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GeoSnap3K×3K

CHROMA‐D1K×512

CHROMA‐D3K×512

GeoSnap2K×2K

GeoSnap / CHROMA‐D Design• 18 micron pitch pixel• CTIA unit cell with 2 gains / full well

• 100 ke- and 1 Me- or 180 ke- and 2.7 Me-• Stitchable design, up to 3K×3K pixels• Snapshot, integrate while read• Fully digital chip, 14 bit ADCs• Full frame rate: 120 Hz for 2K×2K, 250 Hz for 3K×512• ROIC formats fabricated: 2K×2K, 2K×512, 3K×512• Focal plane arrays made and tested with several types of detectors:

• Visible (Silicon), MWIR (5.3 µm HgCdTe), VLWIR (14.5 µm HgCdTe)

ROIC Focal Plane Module

• ROIC passed radiation tests (no latchup)• GeoSnap 2K×2K space flight package developed• GeoSnap 2K×2K in production (TRL 6)• Being used for Visible, MWIR, VLWIR • CHROMA‐D 2K×512 and 3K×512 being developed for Earth Science applications

GeoSnap‐18 (Stichable to 3k x 3k)

Detectors and missions

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• Euclid is the European Space Agency’s next flagship astronomy mission.  

• Target launch date is 2021.• Euclid has a 1.2‐m diameter large field of view telescope with visible and infrared arrays produced by Teledyne:

• 600 million visible pixels• 36 4K×4K (16 Mpix) CCDs

• 64 million infrared pixels• 16 H2RG (4 Mpix) SWIR arrays• 16 SIDECAR ASIC modules

• Largest IR focal plane array when it launches• 24 flight candidate H2RGs delivered to NASA• NASA tested and delivered 20 flight grade H2RG arrays to ESA, all of which greatly exceed requirements

Quantum Efficiencyof 24 flight candidate H2RGs

Measured by Goddard SFC Detector Characterization Laboratory

Teledyne Visible and IR detectors for Euclid

Teledyne Imaging Sensors H2RG

2K×2K pixels, 18µm pitch

e2v CCD 273‐84

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Dark Current at 100KMedian = 0.012 e‐/pix/sec

More than 5X betterthan specification (0.07 e‐/pix/sec)

2.3 µm cutoff wavelength

Readout NoiseMedian = 6.8 e‐

40% better than specification (11.5 e‐)

H2RG IR Detectors for Euclid

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• H4RG‐10:  4K×4K pixels, 10 µm pixel pitch

• Technology Maturation (2014‐2018) achieved all goals• Reduced H4RG‐10 noise• Increased operability of 16 megapixel IR arrays• Demonstrated H4RG‐10 flight performance• Demonstrated yield for flight production• Made the arrays flatter (smaller peak‐to‐valley)• Reduced image persistence

• Flight Production commenced in June 2018

2.4 meter telescope

Measured by the Detector Characterization Lab, Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA WFIRST Mission

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JUICE MAJISVIS‐IR Spectrometer

JUICE MAJISVIS‐IR Spectrometer

Jupiter + Ganymede, Calisto & Europa

Trojan Asteroids

LucyL’RalphVis‐IR

spectrometer

LucyL’RalphVis‐IR

spectrometer

• 1 H2RG MWIR array

• MWIR CHROMA‐A 320×480

• Focal Plane Electronics

Europa ClipperMISEVis‐IR 

spectrometer

Europa ClipperMISEVis‐IR 

spectrometer

Europa Image Here

Europa

Missions for Jupiter and it’s neighborhood

• 1 H1RG SWIR array• 1 H1RG MWIR array• 2 SIDECAR ASIC Modules

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Image Sensor RequirementsWavelength (µm) 6 – 10

Operating temperature range (K) 35 – 40 Integration time (s) 10

Dark current (e‐/s/pixel) <200Read noise (correlated double sample; e‐) <30

Quantum efficiency (%) >60Well depth (e‐) >45,000

Pixel operability (%) (with all above properties) >90

• NEOCam will fly two mosaics• 2K×8K MWIR (5 µm cutoff)• 2K×8K LWIR (10 µm cutoff)

• MWIR H2RG produced for several years for ground-based astronomy and JWST

• LWIR now made in 2K×2K format (H2RG)• Largest high performance LWIR

detectors ever made• Each mosaic will be 4 H2RGs

• Mission will fly 8 H2RGs and 8 SIDECAR ASIC modules

• Teledyne has developed a new H2RG package and qualified to TRL-6

• Active program of continued development

NEOCam Asteroid Survey Mission

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

Calibrated Radiance SpectraAVIRIS-NGImaging Cube

Instrument Calibration LAEGERN Test Site

380 to 2510 nm5 nm resolution

Avaris‐NG First Measurements in EuropeSwitzerland June 2018

Teledyne’s High Performance IR Sensors for Space Missions

• 256×256 pixels• 40 micron pixel pitch• 8 spectral channels (4 to 12 µm)• Full well optimized per channel• 4 rows (selected) read out per channel• 30,000 Hz frame rate• Developed for HySpIRI TIR• Being deployed in ECOSTRESS,

installed on the ISS

JPL FPA measurements (William Johnson & the PHyTIR team)• Cutoff wavelength = 12.9 µm• Operating temp = 60 K• Dark current = 183 e-/pix/sec (spec is <283 e-/pix/sec)• Full well optimized per channel, from 6 to 8 million electrons

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High Speed MWIR‐LWIR Multi‐Spectral Focal Plane Array

First light results from ECOSSTRESS. Showing the temperature variation over LA  at different times of the day.

The ECOsystem SpaceborneThermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) will measure the temperature of plants and use that information to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress

Image Courtesy NASA/JPL‐Caltech

ECOSTRESS first results

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If you are interested in this technology please come and 

talk to Teledyne‐e2v about how we can meet your needs

Questions?